Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

Delcar · 04-02-2010, 08:22 AM

Good stuff, and good luck with this.

Has anyone looked at Green Ronins RPG for Dragon Age yet? I'm hoping it has a lot of background data.

A few thoughts:

Dwarves

I get the impression that if the dwarves live longer than humans, its not the hundreds of years that more Tolkien-esque dwarves live. Dagna makes a comment to the effect of "I've waited eighteen years, I can wait a little longer."

She acts like an enthusiastic young adult, and still has to worry about what her parents think. I'm guessing she wasn't born wanting to study magic so I'd guess she's probably about twenty-five.

It doesn't affect game play much at all, so if you cared about it, one level of Extended Lifespan is probably sufficient.

I also second the idea of Resistant to Lyrium or else they could potentially shrug off healing spells and other beneficial spells. (Which the game sort of models where potions are concerned etc. by their stats.)

Just an off-topicish observation, I assume the dwarves have access to decent healing of some sort, since they call for healers during the proving. Any thoughts about dwarven alchemy? (herbalism would be the DA:O skill, but I imagine they use as many or more mineral components)

Elves

A dexterity boost is huge, but not game-breaking, and I like that it makes the template nice and cheap.

If the Dalish elves live longer, its probably more due to nutrition and sanitation than any 'recovery of lost elvish ways'.

Warden: "Elves have strange powers."
Sten: "Being easily conquered does not constitute a 'power'."

Qunari

As was pointed out, Qunari are going to be tall by virtue of their high strength, you could always also assign a feature "Height determined by strength +X" to make them all tend to be large.

Reduced consumption is a nice touch, based on Sten's time in the cage, but he could just be a tough, hardy bastard; I'm not sure every Qunari could have survived it.

And since everyone in DA:O can trade armor at will, clearly they're all SM+0 :D

Runes and Enchanting

From a GM's point of view I'm torn on the way runes work; I'd try like hell to make it NPC only, or else the PC's could be juggling runes before every fight. I -like- the thought of upgrading a weapon as you 'level up', but it needs some controls.

Beat your players with a bat if they even approach Dragon Age: Awakening and want to runecraft.

Landwalker makes a great point about the tranquil being single minded and having excellent concentration, its not a trade off I'd make personally.

Another question, what about Mabari PCs? Here's what I've come up with:

Mabari (-7 points)
DX +1 [20]
IQ -2 [-40]
HT +2 [20]
Will +2 [10]
Per +4 [20]
SM 0
Discriminatory Smell [15]
Enhanced Move .5 [10]
Sharp Teeth [1]
Cannot Speak [-15]
Chummy [-5]
Hidebound [-5]
Horizontal [-10]
No Fine Manipulators [-30]
Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]
Brawling DX+2 [4]
Tracking Per+2 [8]

You could make a case for taboo trait Fixed IQ, and all sorts of other disadvantages.

How many points are you going to start players with? The templates are fairly cheap so far.

04-02-2010, 08:22 AM	#11
Delcar MIB Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Central Florida	Re: GURPS Dragon Age Good stuff, and good luck with this. Has anyone looked at Green Ronins RPG for Dragon Age yet? I'm hoping it has a lot of background data. A few thoughts: Dwarves I get the impression that if the dwarves live longer than humans, its not the hundreds of years that more Tolkien-esque dwarves live. Dagna makes a comment to the effect of "I've waited eighteen years, I can wait a little longer." She acts like an enthusiastic young adult, and still has to worry about what her parents think. I'm guessing she wasn't born wanting to study magic so I'd guess she's probably about twenty-five. It doesn't affect game play much at all, so if you cared about it, one level of Extended Lifespan is probably sufficient. I also second the idea of Resistant to Lyrium or else they could potentially shrug off healing spells and other beneficial spells. (Which the game sort of models where potions are concerned etc. by their stats.) Just an off-topicish observation, I assume the dwarves have access to decent healing of some sort, since they call for healers during the proving. Any thoughts about dwarven alchemy? (herbalism would be the DA:O skill, but I imagine they use as many or more mineral components) Elves A dexterity boost is huge, but not game-breaking, and I like that it makes the template nice and cheap. If the Dalish elves live longer, its probably more due to nutrition and sanitation than any 'recovery of lost elvish ways'. Warden: "Elves have strange powers." Sten: "Being easily conquered does not constitute a 'power'." Qunari As was pointed out, Qunari are going to be tall by virtue of their high strength, you could always also assign a feature "Height determined by strength +X" to make them all tend to be large. Reduced consumption is a nice touch, based on Sten's time in the cage, but he could just be a tough, hardy bastard; I'm not sure every Qunari could have survived it. And since everyone in DA:O can trade armor at will, clearly they're all SM+0 :D Runes and Enchanting From a GM's point of view I'm torn on the way runes work; I'd try like hell to make it NPC only, or else the PC's could be juggling runes before every fight. I -like- the thought of upgrading a weapon as you 'level up', but it needs some controls. Beat your players with a bat if they even approach Dragon Age: Awakening and want to runecraft. Landwalker makes a great point about the tranquil being single minded and having excellent concentration, its not a trade off I'd make personally. Another question, what about Mabari PCs? Here's what I've come up with: Mabari (-7 points) DX +1 [20] IQ -2 [-40] HT +2 [20] Will +2 [10] Per +4 [20] SM 0 Discriminatory Smell [15] Enhanced Move .5 [10] Sharp Teeth [1] Cannot Speak [-15] Chummy [-5] Hidebound [-5] Horizontal [-10] No Fine Manipulators [-30] Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10] Brawling DX+2 [4] Tracking Per+2 [8] You could make a case for taboo trait Fixed IQ, and all sorts of other disadvantages. How many points are you going to start players with? The templates are fairly cheap so far.